Cinquecento make an incredibly persuasive case for this repertoire and for this music. I really love the sound they make. It’s a fantastic ensemble sound—they don’t sacrifice any individual expression but, my goodness, the ensemble is so together all the way through; the intonation is to die for, and it’s just such a wonderful listen. They keep things pretty swift: the tactus feels like we’re moving through it so lines are able to be shaped in quite an expressive way as we move through these wonderful harmonies of Isaac and Josquin.

The singing is first-rate, their whole ensemble is rooted so well in Ulfried Staber’s baritone sound, and so the extreme focus of that sound allows them to lock in above it, and then on top of it you’ve got Terry Wey singing this beautiful counter-tenor and the whole thing shimmers. The ensemble is fantastic and as you go from the Josquin into the Isaac it’s like walking from a baptistery into an amazing Gothic nave—the sunlight pours in. It’s a wonderful, wonderful disc.

The recorded sound is working really, really well for them—the acoustic is so generous, and yet the way that the recording is made is that we don’t miss a moment of detail. It’s such a joy.